I'm a development chemical engineer working at a bulk
pharmaceutical plant. Can anyone help answer this question, how
important is the treatment of wastes generated in antibiotic
manufacturing? If spent fermentation broth and purification
extracts containing significant amounts of several antibiotics
and related chemicals that have anti-microbial activity are
treated in a warm (45 C) activated sludge type micro biological
waste treatment plant, could this significantly contribute to the
development of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria outside
of the plant? I wouldn't expect pathogenic bacteria to be
present in the waste treatment plant, but the bacteria that do
exist in the plant would presumably become resistant to the
antibiotics produced at the plant. Is it likely that these
resistant activated sludge bacteria could transfer their
resistance to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus after
discharge from the plant?
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Howard Magadanz
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Howard Magadanz
72457.205 at CompuServe.com